Taking the cause of the oppressed
I had a lot of ideas on what to blog today. I could make a follow-up on my previous day's blog (particularly the "great" news on the National Power Corporation). I could have made an "appeal" to the greedy. Blogging about the "Seven Deadly Sins" even came to my mind. These may be great blogs in some future time but for today, I decided to blog about the title you see above.
This is a story of how my yesterday went. In the morning, I had a great hearing defending a client accused of pushing drugs. He was no pusher, he was just set-up for a "shake-down" by the people who picked him up. When he failed to come across, they promptly planted the evidence and charged him. My direct examination had no hitch.
The cross examination really showed the truth in my client's claims. The prosecutor utterly failed to break him and his story. Unlike the police officers the prosecutor presented before that are now on AWOL on some extortion charge. A witness who tells the "truth, the whole truth, and nothing but" can never be broken, even by the best lawyer. And that's what happened at the start of my day.
In the afternoon, I met a client whose spouse was killed by a reckless driver. Here, we faced a driver who refuses to take responsibility (as he has merely relied on the insurance and the generosity of his boss to pull him through this rap), and his boss who focused on getting his car out of the impound before he likewise took responsibility for the spouse his car killed. He even hired an expensive lawyer to take care of his car BEFORE he took care of his employee's victim.
What's up with that? And all the while, through the ordeal of the death and funeral of my client's spouse, this rich guy always implanted in them that this was an accident (no one's at fault) and the driver had six children to feed. Well for crying out loud! This was no accident, as the death occurred through the driver's control or his lack thereof and at least those six children still have a father that would eventually come home to them...
I honestly told my client that the chances of a monetary recovery were very small and we would be prosecuting on mere principle here. My client decided to press on...good person...
Out of that meeting came one of my best pleadings I have ever made, PURELY IN FILIPINO since we were still in the preliminary investigation stage. I have never found myself so eloquent and so clear in Filipino in my entire life...I even translated the jargon in Filipino...
I did not earn money today. But this was one day I was glad I'm a lawyer. Truly, to defend the defenseless and to attack for the oppressed are the things that make this profession great. And it does not have to be a celebrated or high-profile case. The exhilaration, I think, is the same.
This is a story of how my yesterday went. In the morning, I had a great hearing defending a client accused of pushing drugs. He was no pusher, he was just set-up for a "shake-down" by the people who picked him up. When he failed to come across, they promptly planted the evidence and charged him. My direct examination had no hitch.
The cross examination really showed the truth in my client's claims. The prosecutor utterly failed to break him and his story. Unlike the police officers the prosecutor presented before that are now on AWOL on some extortion charge. A witness who tells the "truth, the whole truth, and nothing but" can never be broken, even by the best lawyer. And that's what happened at the start of my day.
In the afternoon, I met a client whose spouse was killed by a reckless driver. Here, we faced a driver who refuses to take responsibility (as he has merely relied on the insurance and the generosity of his boss to pull him through this rap), and his boss who focused on getting his car out of the impound before he likewise took responsibility for the spouse his car killed. He even hired an expensive lawyer to take care of his car BEFORE he took care of his employee's victim.
What's up with that? And all the while, through the ordeal of the death and funeral of my client's spouse, this rich guy always implanted in them that this was an accident (no one's at fault) and the driver had six children to feed. Well for crying out loud! This was no accident, as the death occurred through the driver's control or his lack thereof and at least those six children still have a father that would eventually come home to them...
I honestly told my client that the chances of a monetary recovery were very small and we would be prosecuting on mere principle here. My client decided to press on...good person...
Out of that meeting came one of my best pleadings I have ever made, PURELY IN FILIPINO since we were still in the preliminary investigation stage. I have never found myself so eloquent and so clear in Filipino in my entire life...I even translated the jargon in Filipino...
I did not earn money today. But this was one day I was glad I'm a lawyer. Truly, to defend the defenseless and to attack for the oppressed are the things that make this profession great. And it does not have to be a celebrated or high-profile case. The exhilaration, I think, is the same.
transcription by Punzi @ 12:10 AM
6 Objection(s):
just blog hopping :)
very well said , i like the way you write ur blog :)cheers
I am a special education teacher of teenagers diagnosed with ED (Emotionally Disturbed), they have high probability to become our future criminals or crime lords because they are good in manipulating people. Most of the are smart which makes it harder for me to manage their behavior. Parents are in and out of jail, my students are victims of the environment they are in. Can I blame them for having behavioral and emotional problems? We are in a similar boat. Tough job, but I get my rewards in other forms, not tangible though.
I keep this is mind...to be unselfish, sharing, generous, bountiful, magnaninous, noble-minded and gracious is much more about attitude than about money. As much you give, much more you will receive.
Keep up the good work (***pat on the back***)
kudos!
Thank you very much for your support.
Alan, san ka nag-iinternet?
You are exemplary in this way Punzi and you sound so much like a "people's lawyer" if there is such a term. You have the heart for the oppressed and the wronged, perhaps you are destined for a bigger calling, that is, to serve the people in general.
Don't get me wrong, friends.
I am a "mainstream" lawyer. I do this for a living. This is how I support my growing kids.
It was just that some of my best work came from situations where principles, not money, were involved. That was yesterday's revelation.
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